After its start in Sarno, the second round of the WSK International Series season is approaching, with the event of next Sunday, 15th April in Spain, on the brand new track of Zuera, in the province of
Zaragoza. The series created and managed by WSK Promotion has expanded this year into a wider European scope: after Italy and Spain, it will be the turn of France, the venue of the fourth event.
However, the competition next week will represent a memorable event for the Spanish karting, since it will bring back to the Iberian soil an international event recognised by the CIK -FIA, after as many
as 18 years of waiting.
The new track in Zuera, which was the idea of a group of Spanish
entrepreneurs, has straight forwardly found fertile ground in both the local and national authorities, that have enthusiastically supported the project. The new complex stands as the barycentre of various activities, not only in the field of sport. The area of Zuera, along with the Zaragoza province, has agreed right away on the idea of hosting a track able to compete with the best in the world and, thus, to attract the media attention worldwide. The Real Federación Española de Automovilismo (RFEdA) has fostered the realisation of the project, not only in order to fill the gap of the absence of a real international circuit of karting in Spain, but intended also to set the grounds for the development of karting at a
professional level, and perhaps one day to launch national car racing too. The CIK-FIA has welcomed the initiative as a good opportunity to increase the presence of Spanish drivers at international events, who have in fact so far registered in great numbers.
As the great country that it is, Spain has been making itself known throughout the years in the motor sport. Having made it in the Formula 1 thanks to the talent of Fernando Alonso, Spanish karting was left as the only gap to be filled. The last FIA karting international event hosted on a Spanish track had taken place in 1989 on the Circuito de Aragòn, a circuit that was dismantled later. Spanish karting has not stopped since then, however, thanks to those that had followed Alonso’s trail and that confirm the current quite
respectable figures, both in terms of participation and of the final results. Besides, In the WSK series, on the first session in Sarno the 18th March, young driver from Barcelona, Javier Tarancon, has positively impressed winning both the KF2 finals. New entrepreneurial initiatives such as the brand FA Kart (from Alonso’s initials), are joining in. Its creator is Genis Marco, 31, from L’Escala, near Barcelona, who had associated his image of manufacturer, linked to Italian Tony Kart, to the twice F1 champion (he helped Alonso in his early stages). With his own team Genikart, Marco is now the point of
reference for the drivers in his country, of Tarancon to begin with. Now that the competition of a “FIA Authorised Series”, such as the WSK series kicks off, the collaboration between the two companies could not be happier and more productive on an international level.
The setting in Spain for the WSK International Series will take place on a 1700 meters circuit, 10 meters wide and with three straights long 115, 160 and 179 meters. The grandstands, of a fitting capacity of 2150 spectators, is part of a building with briefing room with 200 seats and media centre, in addition to all the service provided. The total extension is 262.000 mq, which, in addition to the parc fermé fully covered, hosts also a heliport. Between the project and its final realization, authorization procedures included, only three years have passed.
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